Go with strengths in AEC: Charoen
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Agriculture, regional expansion will be drivers of success
Charoen Sirivadhanabhakdi, Thailand’s leading liquor tycoon, is confident in the country’s ability to adjust to the coming Asean Economic Community (AEC), which will be fully implemented in 2015.
The country should rely on its strengths in agriculture as it moves forward and becomes even more competitive in regional competition beyond border trade, he said.
“Thailand is recognised as ‘Suvarnabhumi’, or ‘the Golden Land’,” Charoen said. “However, we need to make some adjustments to utilise our agricultural strength fully.”
Charoen, who is chairman of Berli Jucker (BJC) and TCC Holding, said agricultural activity could take place anywhere in the Kingdom. However, the farming areas are not fully utilised and there are many areas available for further agricultural development. This is quite different from other places such as Japan and Taiwan, which lack arable land.
“I myself am still confident in the strong potential of Thailand amid the severe political conflict and natural disasters, such as the recent flooding. We have had strong political conflict over the past several years but now that the conflict is over, the country has seen rapid growth in its economy once again,” he said.
“Regarding the coming AEC, I believe that Thai businesspeople will be able to adjust quite actively … when the competition is more intense.”
No more boundaries
Charoen said that to cash in on the AEC, it was a necessity for Thai companies to expand their business to other countries in the region, as there will no longer be any boundaries for trade and business.
He said BJC had a policy to speed up its expansion into markets with strong growth potential.
The company has already invested in glass-container manufacturing in Malaysia and Vietnam in partnership with Owens-Illinois, the world’s leading producer of such products. BJC has also acquired a 75-per-cent stake in Thai Corp International, a Thai-owned trading and distribution business in Vietnam.
Thai Beverage Can, a subsidiary of BJC, has also formed a joint venture with US-based Ball Corp, the world’s largest producer of aluminium cans, setting up a can factory in Vietnam with an investment of US$60 million (Bt1.85 billion).
BJC is also looking for invest-ment possibilities in new potential markets, including Burma and Indonesia.
